Vitamix — or, more precisely, “the cult of Vitamix” — is the subject of a long, admiring feature story in Bloomberg Businessweek.
Joshua Green, the magazine’s senior national correspondent in Washington, examines how the Olmsted Township company has been so successful in selling expensive blenders to affluent, health-conscious, food-oriented customers.
“My first encounter came when a friend of my wife’s lugged her Vitamix to our house for a book club with a liter of Jose Cuervo and a bag of fruits and vegetables, then proceeded to make frozen margaritas and a soup that even picky kids would eat,” he writes.
“Everyone cooed. One woman confessed she had tried to talk her husband into taking theirs on vacation. At Whole Foods Market a few days later, a demonstrator whipped up startlingly delicious kale-banana-apple smoothies,” according to Mr. Green. “It occurred to me that I had reached the age when taking practical steps toward longevity made sense, and here was a seemingly painless way to do so. Ultimately, though, it was the approach of my wife’s birthday, not middle age, that drove my decision to buy one.”
He calls Vitamix “an unusual company that operated in quiet anonymity for nearly a century.” But today, Mr. Green writes, “it’s growing like a startup, thanks to shrewd marketing and a confluence of trends that includes the rise of organic foods, a wave of adventurous cooking shows, and the mania for juicing and smoothies. The stampeding yuppie army behind these trends drove up sales revenue by 52 percent last year.”
Some of my favorite parts of the profile:

Brad Johnson, operations manager at Vitamix, leads Mr. Green on a tour of production space. A large banner hanging over an assembly line declared: “The Vitamix is a blender like a predator drone is a slingshot.”
“We’ve got eight main production lines that can operate in three shifts, 24/5,” Mr. Johnson says. “Each produces 450 to 700 blenders per shift, or about 6,000 to 7,000 per day.”

President Jodi Berg, who took over the family-owned company in 2009 and has overseen the massive expansion, “routinely fields inquiries from suitors interested in buying the company,” Mr. Green writes. “But she says Vitamix, which is owned by family shareholders, won’t consider selling or moving its manufacturing operations overseas.”
That last part is a little jarring in light of Crain’sstory this week indicating Vitamix expects to “decide in mid-2014 where to establish operations for the first time in Asia and Europe.” But it’s likely an issue of semantics — building a plant in Asia or Europe is not the same as “moving” operations.

In 2005, Iron Chef America premiered on the Food Network. One competitor, Cleveland celebrity chef Michael Symon, “brought his Vitamix in a suitcase” and the blenders “became a featured accoutrement on the show.”
Anthony Ciepiel, the company’s chief operating officer, tells Mr. Green, “Chefs are rock stars. And Vitamix has a tremendous chef following.” (Indeed, the Vitamix home page features a big photo of chef Jonathon Sawyer.)

Have fun

The Movoto Real Estate Blog has some love for Lakewood.
The blog, which bills itself as covering “the lighter side of real estate,” includes the western suburb on its list of the “10 Most Exciting Small Cities in America.”
The criteria for the ranking are as follows:

Nightlife per capita (bars, clubs, comedy, etc.)

Live music venues per capita

Active life options per capita (parks, outdoor activities, etc.)

Fast food restaurants per capita (the fewer the better)

Percentage of restaurants that are fast food (the lower the better)

Percentage of young residents ages 20 to 34 (the higher the better)
Movoto identified 140 cities with populations between 50,000 and 60,000 residents, then came to its final 10.
Here’s how it describes Lakewood:
The numbers say that, out of all the criteria we measured, this Cleveland suburb ranked highest for things related to active life. This isn’t really surprising when you consider all of the things to do on and around Lake Erie. Things like the Lakewood Park and the Rocky River Reservation.
In the town proper, there’s a pretty happening (does the 20 to 34 crowd, 24 percent of Lakewood, even say that?) nightlife scene along Madison and Detroit Avenues. There are even places lauded for their dual specialisation in grub and brews, such as Melt (with its deep fried sandwiches) and Buckeye Beer Engine, which is renowned in the area for its burgers. Best of all, they aren’t chains; only 7 percent of restaurants in Lakewood are, which is something to be excited about.

This and that

One person’s opinion:The Washington Post runs a Q&A with music critic Maura Johnston, who did something unusual this week: She posted a photo of her Rock and Roll Hall of Fame ballot to Twitter and Instagram.
Voters can choose up to five nominees on the ballot. Hers were a bit out of the ordinary: Chic, Hall and Oates, LL Cool J, N.W.A. and Linda Ronstadt. (Only Hall and Oates and Ms. Ronstadt will be among the 2014 inductees.)
It start off this way:
The Washington Post: First off, how did you go about making your ballot choices? Was this like a long ponderous agony, or not so much?
Ms. Johnston: It was somewhat strategic. I have full respect for all of the artists I chose, but you can only select five, and I figured Nirvana was a first-ballot lock that didn’t really need my vote. So I picked some artists who I both liked and thought needed an extra boost (particularly Chic, who were on the ballot for the ninth time this year). I’m a bit of an outlier voter, I think; this is only my third year voting, and so I want to make my pro-pop, pro-dance, pro-R&B voice heard.
It’s a terrific interview that goes into a lot of detail for music lovers.
Run out of town: Former Cleveland Browns running back Trent Richardson’s house in Columbia Station can be yours for just $925,000
BustedCoverage.com notes that the 2012 first-round bust, traded (smartly) earlier this season to the Indianapolis Colts, has listed the 4,577-square-foot home for sale.
It has six bedrooms, 4.5 baths, a two-story foyer with a curved staircase, a full game room with arcade games and bench-seat consoles, and an outdoor kitchen and entertainment area
He bought the house in September 2012 for $900,000.
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